Is there a need for yet another staging system for differentiated thyroid cancer?

Excerpt

Papillary thyroid carcinoma and follicular thyroid carcinoma together comprise a generally indolent group of cancers known as differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs). In 2014, there will be an estimated 62,980 new cases of differentiated thyroid cancer, and the incidence is rising faster than any other cancer in the USA [1]. Although the prognosis of DTC is generally good, a small subset of patients eventually die of the disease and up to 30 % of patients experience a recurrence of their disease after 30 years of follow-up [2]. As a result, a number of studies have identified various clinical and pathologic predictors for DTC and devised risk-group stratification or staging systems to select those at high risk of disease recurrence for more aggressive surgical and adjuvant treatment, while those at low risk would be spared aggressive treatment. …